Layouts There is support for layouts. The File - Create - New Layout command creates a new layout. The New Layout commands in the context menus in the Project pane create a new layout. The Project pane supports filtering the component list to show only layouts. The Project pane supports copying and pasting layouts. Layouts can be exported to MML. A layout contains zero or more layout frames. Opening a layout allows dragging and dropping components from the Project pane to create new layout frames. Unlike with a map, it is possible to drop the same component into a layout multiple times, creating multiple layout frames managed separately. (The layout window currently does not allow deleting or reordering layout frames, this is coming.) The layout window supports pans and zooms similarly to the map window. The View - Zoom to Native command sets the display scale as close to the physical scale as possible (the scale accuracy depends on the physical dimensions of the screen area reported by the display driver, most drivers report the same values regardless of the monitor so the scale is fairly close but not exactly accurate). Alt-clicking a layout frame displays drag handles which can be used to resize or move the frame. The frame automatically snaps to other frames and to page edges. Pressing Escape unselects the frame. Double-clicking a layout frame selects it for pan and zoom, switching pan and zoom actions (drag to pan, mouse wheel to zoom, right-click and drag to zoom to rect, plus View - Zoom Xxx menu commands) to work on the contents of the frame instead of on the layout window. Pressing Escape unselects the frame. (The rendering scale in layout frames does not currently reflect the scale that will be used during printing. This is going to be changed.) Double-clicking a layout frame that is partly off-screen or is too small zooms the layout window to the frame prior to selecting it for pan and zoom. The layout window renders components in layout frames using multiple threads, similarly to the map window. The layout window allows changing the size, orientation and margins for the printed page using File - Page Setup. The layout frames are automatically repositioned to stay in the new printable area: if the new printable area is bigger, the frames move towards the center, if the new printable area is smaller, the frames try to move to stay within it and then reduce in size. The layout window allows printing the layout using File - Print. Printing the layout uses either the advanced or the basic rendering engine, as specified in options. Printing notes: - All vector and text objects are rendered at their true point size, in both rendering engines.
- Images are rendered with the resolution specified in the Print dialog, in both rendering engines.
- The advanced rendering engine performs vector antialiasing using the mode best suitable for the device. The basic rendering engine does not perform vector antialiasing, but this is partly compensated by the resolution which is normally significantly higher than for display.
- Text objects are antialiased in both rendering engines.
- The advanced rendering engine supports layer alpha for all types of layers. The basic rendering engine only supports layer alpha for images.
(As a general rule, we suggest using the advanced rendering engine. Also, we do test against a lot of printer drivers, but since the number of printers is so immense, we pay special attention to the system printer driver for PDF, which is built into Windows 10. That way, if something does not work with a real printer, the user can at least compose a PDF and print that.) The map window scales all data to their point sizes according to the display resolution.
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